NGOs’ Resource Capacity Antecedents for Partnerships

• Author: Nadeen Makhlouf,Khaldoun AbouAssi,Page Whalen
• Published date: 01 June 2016
• Date: 01 June 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nml.21200

435

N M  L, vol. 26, no. 4, Summer 2016 © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/nml.21200

Journal sponsored by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University.

Correspondence to: Khaldoun AbouAssi, American University, School of Public Aff airs—Department of Public

Administration and Policy, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Ward Circle Building, Room 343, Washington,

DC 20016–8070. E-mail: abouassi@american.edu.

NGOs’ Resource Capacity Antecedents

for Partnerships

Khaldoun AbouAssi,1 Nadeen Makhlouf,1 Page Whalen2

1American University, 2Bush School of Government & Public Service

Nonprofit organizations strive for continuous improvement in their programs’ effective-

ness and sustainability, service efficiency, and accountability. Typically, managers face the

need to attain these objectives despite limited or declining resources. For that reason, col-

laboration with other organizations has become an increasingly favored tactical strategy.

However, even with the extensive literature on collaboration, there is a lack of empirical

testing of elements or characteristics essential to collaboration. Using survey data from envi-

ronmental organizations, we find that organizations that have sufficient human resource

capacity, more technological resources, and employ females at the leadership level would

more likely seek collaboration than would other organizations. Organizations that generate

higher internal revenues are less likely to seek collaboration.

Keywords: collaboration, partnerships, capacity, nongovernmental organizations

WITH THE INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

(NGOs), the challenges these organizations face have also grown exponentially. Salamon

(1994) contends, “Despite the immense expectations that have been placed on the third sec-

tor, it is still far from clear how eff ectively it can respond to current opportunities. For all its

dynamisms, this sector remains vulnerable to a variety of internal stresses and external con-

straints” (118). With this in mind, many NGOs look for ways to address challenges, expe-

riencing a growing phenomenon by which organizations are engaged in interorganizational

collaborations. In fact, collaborative arrangements can today be viewed as a characteristic of

organizational eff ectiveness (Mitchell 2015).

 e public and nonprofi t management literature does not agree on a defi nition of collabo-

ration (O’Leary and Vij 2012). Most frequently, collaboration is defi ned as “the process of

facilitating and operating in multi-organizational arrangements to solve problems that cannot

be solved, or solved easily, by single organizations” (Agranoff and McGuire 2001). Although

the literature also acknowledges both positive and negative implications for collaboration

(Arsenault 1998; Austin 2000; Brinkerhoff 2002, 2003; Wondolleck and Yaff ee 2000), con-

fusion remains around the antecedents of collaboration.

 e identifi cation of antecedents or characteristics that are essential to collaboration is lim-

ited in the existing literature.  is article examines NGOs’ capacities to engage in collabora-

Nonprofi t Management & Leadership DOI: 10.1002/nml

436 ABOUASSI, MAKHLOUF, WHALEN

tions, with the primary goal of conceptualizing these antecedents. We focus on partnership

as a form of collaboration and examine the human, fi nancial, and technological resources of

organizations that initiate or take part in partnerships.

We fi rst discuss the relation between partnerships and collaboration and then proceed to

draw hypotheses informed by the literature on how NGOs’ human, fi nancial, and techno-

logical resources relate to engagement in partnerships. Next, we discuss the research setting

and methodology, then analyze the results and reach some conclusions.

Collaboration and Partnership Defi ned

 e literature lacks a common defi nition of collaboration. Some scholars consider collabora-

tion as an umbrella concept that encompasses various forms of interorganizational relations;

others approach collaboration as one of those forms (O’Leary and Vij 2012). Snavely and

Tracy (2000) define collaboration as “the overarching commitment to work closely with

other organizations where their missions overlap and intersect and where the combining of

resources leads to improved service eff ectiveness and effi ciency” (148). Meanwhile, Guo and

Acar (2005) defi ne it as an act in which organizations “work together to address problems

through joint eff ort, resources, and decision making and share ownership of the fi nal prod-

uct or service” (342–43).  ese defi nitions underscore the relationship building and creative

problem solving NGOs engage in to achieve certain goals.

Among practitioners, especially those working for organizations in the Global South, the

term partnership is frequently used. A partnership reflects what Mattessich and Monsey

(1992) describe as collaboration through which organizations create a common new goal,

pursue it through a novel project based on a certain structure or arrangement, ongoing com-

munication, and pooled resources used for that project. A partnership is seen as “a dynamic

relationship among diverse actors, based on mutually agreed objectives, pursued through

a shared understanding of the most rational division of labor based on the respective com-

parative advantages of each partner” (Brinkerhoff 2002, 21–22). Partners seek to maximize

mutual benefi ts while maintaining their missions and values (Brinkerhoff 2002). We support

this argument and view partnerships as working arrangements among diverse actors, verbal-

ized in a formal agreement to work on agreed-upon objectives and on projects with specifi c

time frames and resources. Partnerships are temporary endeavors.  roughout this article,

the terms collaboration and partnerships are used interchangeably (Proulx, Hager, and Klein

2014).

Collaboration: Forms and Essential Elements

One essential question that emerges from the literature is: What are the fundamental com-

ponents that bind organizations in collaborative relationships? Many authors (Brinkerhoff

2002; Perrault et al. 2011; Snavely and Tracy 2000, 2002) argue that trust is one of the most

essential factors in partnerships. Bonds of trust between organizations aid in opening lines of

communication; trust is built through understanding and having bureaucratic mechanisms

for periodic interactions and meetings among organizations (Walker and Hills 2012), as well

as the “development of less formal norms of behavior through an organization culture that

expects and supports participatory approaches and mutual respect” (Brinkerhoff 2003, 118).